Award Pools RIPPED OFFFF AND PSD OFFF 8+ MONTHS 50K LATER AND STILL WAITING!! ORLANDO Florida

Both Pat Pitts and Santiago Serna are former employees of Orlando's Anthony & Sylvan office. When A&S decided to leave Florida, both Pat & Santiago went to a company called "Be Cool Pools." A year or so later Be Cool Pools started having some issues as well. That is when Award Pools was formed. The latest I have heard (not confirmed) was that Santiago Serna left Award Pools to join (own?) a company called Aztec Pools, which builds mainly in Osceola County.

Jose. I hope your pool is finished by now. What a coincidence that the person who wrote the rebuttal to your comment was also named Patrick. It was too perfect. I guess we both now who wrote it.


I am having the same problem with Award Pool and Patrick Pitts right now. Except this time, they closed their office and are not returning phone calls. I've lost my money and the sub-contractors were not paid. Now i'm being sued.

I'd just like to say, I feel Jose's pain. I don't believe this company cares about their customers, the quality of thier work, or their reputation.

The subcontractors they work with don't seem to care about the quality of work they provide either. They just slap stuff together quickley and get out of town. There are parts of my uncompleted pool which look like crap and needs to be fixed. Of course I'm not holding my breath waiting on this.

They have not done anything when they said they would. Generally the things done are a week to 2 weeks after the stated date. I don't beleive they are very honest.

Answering phones and returning calls. What a JOKE!

Would it be worth my time and money to get an Attorney?

I'd just like to say, I feel Jose's pain. I don't believe this company cares about their customers, the quality of thier work, or their reputation.

The subcontractors they work with don't seem to care about the quality of work they provide either. They just slap stuff together quickley and get out of town. There are parts of my uncompleted pool which look like crap and needs to be fixed. Of course I'm not holding my breath waiting on this.

They have not done anything when they said they would. Generally the things done are a week to 2 weeks after the stated date. I don't beleive they are very honest.

Answering phones and returning calls. What a JOKE!

Would it be worth my time and money to get an Attorney?

I'd just like to say, I feel Jose's pain. I don't believe this company cares about their customers, the quality of thier work, or their reputation.

The subcontractors they work with don't seem to care about the quality of work they provide either. They just slap stuff together quickley and get out of town. There are parts of my uncompleted pool which look like crap and needs to be fixed. Of course I'm not holding my breath waiting on this.

They have not done anything when they said they would. Generally the things done are a week to 2 weeks after the stated date. I don't beleive they are very honest.

Answering phones and returning calls. What a JOKE!

Would it be worth my time and money to get an Attorney?

AN ALL NEW LOWWWWW...
WHERE THEY HAD THEIR BBB LOGO THEY NOW HAVE A LOGO OF A NATIONAL POOL & SPA INSTITUTE WHICH IS A INSTITUE FROM AFRICA
HAAAAA FUNNY .....
WHICH HAS A DISCLAMER THAT SAY'S IN BREAKING NEWS
(http://www.nspi.co.za/)

The items published here are deemed to be of interest to the Pool Building community and the public at large. Their inclusion on this page does not in any way imply or indicate that the National Spa and Pool Institute of South Africa supports, underwrites, guarantees or otherwise accepts any responsibility for the performance, service or delivery of any product or service offered.

COMPLAINTS FROM THE BBB.
http://www.orlando.bbb.org/newsearch2.asp?ComID=0733004003632

Still nothing I Guess pat favortizes on some people cause i have spoken to 2 other people that are not very happy with award pool. My sales agent was Santiago Serna that was very polite at the time of the Sale and I asked what i thought was the most important question which was how long would it take and his answer was 6-12 weeks. I also asked him what has been the longest and shortest time and he said shortest as 3 weeks long as 12 weeks. Before Award pools I had Gator pools give me an Estimate and also American pool which were cheaper but i like the design Award gave me and there selling point which was so they say that they build there pool better than gator and american pools so he said. Santiago did not say that the pavers would take additional time nor any of the other upgrades that i had picked. This is the first experiance I have had with a pool company and i would never refer them to anyone not even my enemy. I don't thinks it right what they are doing to me..
Do they favortize?
Look at their track records for yourself and tell me that the're a good company!!!!
as of 1/15/06 21 complaints
http://www.orlando.bbb.org/newsearch2.asp?ComID=0733004003632

To whom it may concern,
This is my response to the "How should I be" Article posted about Award Pools. First I would like to state that I am a 5 time in ground pool owner. I am very familiar with payment schedules concerning a pool purchase. I also am very familiar with the construction process in which it takes to build a pool. I had my first pool built by Anthony Pools. Three additional pools I had constructed by Anthony & Sylvan Pools.I am from up North in Pennsylvania. Pools need to be constructed stronger in the northern states due to how the winter months vastly age a pool.

After I had moved to Orlando Florida my first agenda was to have a pool constructed at my new home. This is the climate to get year round enjoyment out of owning an in ground pool. To my dismay I had found out that Anthony & Sylvan Pools was not constructing pools in Orlando Florida. Anthony & Sylvan pools constructs the best quality pool your money can buy. This is when my interview process for Orlando based pool companies began. I had at least 10 pool companies out to my house. Just to name a few...Artesian Pools, American Pools, Florida Pools, Dixie Pools,Blue Haven Pools and Erickson Pools.

I came to find out after having these 10 companies to my home. That in some cases I knew more than some pool companies in proper construction, filtration and Maintenance for a pool. Knowledge like this comes with experience from being a 5 time pool owner. The cutbacks in material certain companies make is amazing. No 8" Bond Beam construction, The pool is plumbed with 1' and half pipe and they stick you with a tiny bucket that is supposed to be a filter. You would think that because they make so many cutbacks in the quality of a pool in Florida that it would reflect in a lower priced pool. Well that is not the case.

I began to get frustrated and was not going to risk a 40k investment to purchase a pool that was going to fall apart and be nothing but a headache. My Wife and family still insisted that they wanted a pool. So I decided to call my sales representative from Anthony & Sylvan Pools in Pennsylvania. I explained to him the interviews I had with the above named companies in Orlando. He understood my frustration completely. He then told me that his sister lives in Orlando and had a pool built with a very good company. He basically told me that the company that constructed his sister's pool builds their pools almost to the same quality of excellence that Anthony & Sylvan does. I asked him for the name of the company and he said Award Pools.

I looked up Award pools in the yellow pages and set an appointment with them. One of the owners had came to my house Patrick Pitts. As soon as he came into my house I felt as though I was in good hands. Everything he did was reminiscent to my previous pool purchase from Anthony & Sylvan Pools. Pat explained to me the materials and methods used in constructing an Award Pool. To my surprise it had the same recipe of quality that Anthony & Sylvan had provided to me in the past. Needles to say the price was right also. So I decided to enter into an agreement to build my fifth pool with Award Pools.

Pat went over everything with me. Payment schedule, the construction process, permit paperwork and building my pool to proper codes and safety regulations provided by Orange County. Pat told me that it would take about 2-3 weeks for my permits and Home owners association to be approved in Orange County. He also explained the differences to me that the time frame varies from county to county for permits and home owners associations in different subdivisions. He then said that once my permits were approved "2-3 weeks" that they would break ground and that the overall construction process would be 8-12 weeks. This 8-12 weeks was for my pool to be dug, steel to be applied, the pool to be gunited and my electrical and plumbing as well. This was also about the same time frame that it had took to build my 4 previous owned pools. But I decided for this pool that I wanted to go with a brick paver deck. Pat told me that there could be an additional 3-4 week delay in addition to the 8-12 week overall pool construction for my custom paver deck. Pat told me that if I elected to go with the regular concrete deck that there would be no delay. However I was willing to wait because I liked the appearance that a brick paver deck provides.

The payment schedule by the Award Pools agreement of sale was almost identical to the 10 previous pool companies had out to my house. I had given Pat a 10% down payment at the initial signing. He subtracted that off of the total purchase price of the pool. This was also clearly displayed on my agreement that I had given a 10% down payment. There were 4 payments to be made to Award Pools during my construction process. The payment schedule went as follows: 40% on day of excavation"Pool Dig" 40% on day of Gunite"Concrete pool shell" 17% on the day of tile installation, and 3% due prior to interior finish "Pool finish walls steps and floor". Pat also explained to me because I had purchased a screen enclosure that the screen is put up and then I pay the last 3% for the interior finish to be applied.

Well the process and payment schedule went just the way Pat had explained to me. It also followed the wording on my agreement of sale with Award Pools. I gave their Construction Manager my scheduled payments as he was at my residence to inspect my pool process as every step was completed. I Even saved not to pay for postage. Everything went Exactly the way Patrick Pitts said it would when he sold me my 5th pool. I now own another pool which I am proud of and is constructed to last. I referred 4 of my neighbors to use Award Pools and there construction process has been a pleasure for them as well. I look forward to use Award Pools again for my next pool purchase. I certainly hope that the pool construction process I have explained here may clarify any misunderstandings concerning proper payment and timeframe for pool construction. I also feel you may have been mislead by a smooth talking salesman maybe because it would appear that there are allot of misunderstandings on your part. I hope the information I provided helps you thru the rest of your pool construction. I can tell you that you do have a very well made pool being constructed. Please read your agreement of sale and see if the payment schedule reads just as mine does. I feel that will clarify allot of this yp for you. Also inspections by the county can hold you up as well.